CORRECTED - Nokia says Greater China sales grew 39 pct in 2006 http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=companyNews&storyid=127913+09-Feb-2007+RTRS
Fri Feb 9, 2007
(Corrects to domestic China purchases by the company from domestic China sales in paragraph 2)
SHANGHAI, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The world's top cellphone maker, Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile , Research), said sales in its China region -- including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan -- grew 39 percent in 2006 from a year earlier to more than 5.3 billion euros ($6.91 billion), amid strong export sales and expansion into rural markets.
Nokia's export sales out of China rose 67 percent to 4.8 billion euros over the same period, the company said in a statement sent to Reuters on Friday. It added that domestic China purchases by the company came to more than 35 billion yuan ($4.5 billion).
China has been Nokia's single largest market since 2005 and the company won network expansion contracts from provinces Guangdong, Hunan and Sichuan last year, the statement said.
"Nokia's market share is now greater than 35 percent in mainland China," said Colin Giles, Senior Vice President of Nokia customer and market operations, China Area.
China is the world's largest mobile market, with over 440 million subscribers.
Nokia Oyj and smaller rival Motorola Inc. (MOT.N: Quote, Profile , Research) control about half of the China market, following an aggressive campaign to take back share from a field of homegrown rivals such as Ningbo Bird Co. Ltd. (600130.SS: Quote, Profile , Research) and TCL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd. (2618.HK: Quote, Profile , Research). ($1=.7669 Euro)
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